[Neurosurgical ambulatory brain death diagnosis in peripheral hospitals].

For 2 years at the University of Düsseldorf, outpatient diagnosis of brain death has been practised by the Department of Neurosurgery and the Section of Nephrology of the Department of Internal Medicine upon the suggestion of the "Kuratorium Heimdialyse und Organspende." The set-up and diagnostic procedures of the medical-neurosurgical investigation team are based on the Recommendations of the Scientific Commission of the Federal Medical Council (FMC) "Criteria of Brain Death" in its 1986 revision. The institution of a "transplantation duty rota" ensures rapid deployment of a neurosurgeon and an internist in the peripheral hospital. The neurosurgeon on call can be contacted by a Euro-bleeper. The Kuratorium Heimdialyse also provided a transportable EEG recorder. First experiences have shown that by interdisciplinary cooperation with colleagues in the peripheral hospitals, misconceptions were avoided in the outpatient diagnosis of brain death which previously had repeatedly thwarted organ-donation in cases of attempted suicide, head injury, and resuscitation.